Addiction Neuroscience Laboratory
- Prof Andrew Lawrence
Laboratory Head
Professor Andrew J Lawrence BSc (Hons) PhD (Loughborough)
Contact Details
Email: | |
Phone: | +61 3 8344 0414 |
Fax: | +61 3 9348 1707 |
Number of
Staff: 3 (2 Postdoctoral researchers and 1 Research Assistant)
Students: 7 (5 PhD students and 2 BSc Honours students)
Research Interests
Investigation of the neural pathways implicated in drug-seeking behaviour and additionally, the association between mood disorders, stress and drug-seeking behaviour.
Investigation of molecular mediators of drug-seeking behaviour / drug-induced plasticity
Our laboratory uses both rats and mice as experimental models. The latter approach enables us to probe the role of specific genes in drug-seeking and / or drug-induced plasticity.
Current Projects
- Identification of novel pharmacotherapeutics for alcohol abuse
- CRF, stress and drug-seeking
- Role of mGlu5 receptors in drug-seeking and drug-induced plasticity
- Model of adolescent psychostimulant use and its consequences
- CREB as a mediator of drug-induced plasticity associate with addiction
- Genetic models of drug-seeking behaviour / drug-induced plasticity
Laboratory Techniques
- Operant self-administration of alcohol, cocaine and opiates in rats and mice
- Behavioural sensitisation to drugs of abuse
- Conditioned place preference to drugs of abuse
- Assessment of affective and cognitive behaviour following acute or chronic treatment with drugs of abuse
- Quantitative gene and protein expression / neurochemistry
- Neuropharmacological interventions to regulate drug-seeking
- Functional neuroanatomy / examining circuitry related to drug-seeking
- Conditional transgenics
Funding
- National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship (Andrew Lawrence)
- National Health and Medical Research Council Program Grant
- Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant
Additional Information
Professor Andrew Lawrence is the
- Treasurer of the Australian Neuroscience Society (www.ans.org.au)
- Secretary of the organising committee for the 2007 IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience (www.ibro2007.org)
Research
